In 1995 Eric Bischoff had a idea that might allow WCW to turn a profit. With Rupert Murdoch set to launch a new channel in China Bischoff was hoping to old WCW shows to it. It made since the show were already shot this could mean good money with very little work by his staff. Calling in a few IOU's with Turner Brass he got a one a meeting with Ted Turner the one that could approve working with Murdoch. However Turner suddenly threw a curve ball instead talking about Bischoff's idea Turner wanted to know what it would take to beat the WWF. Bischoff wasn't sure he didn't plan on talking about that issue and his goal wasn't to beat to the WWF it was to put WCW in the black plus he already gotten a hold of big stars like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage but he needed an answer and said "Primetime TV sir." Turner than ordered a time slot to be cleared on Monday nights for a new WCW show. And thus Nitro was born. And the rest is history. But now we look back at the first ever WCW Monday Nitro.
A few things to note here this Nitro was only an hour long instead of the two or later three hour time slot the show would get. And has been noted in the past it didn't take place in a arena instead of the Mall of America. I actually like the Mall of America as venue since it's different and does give a big crowd witch I'm sure had to be bit of a worry. Finally its not like the show was there weekly it was a one time thing. Eric Bischoff welcomes us to the show with Steve McMichael. Bobby Heenan comes out to interrupt. Mongo is annoying giving those kind of weird he was saying in his promos. Bischoff implies that Heenan had been trashing Mongo.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs Brian Pillman- These two had one of WCW's best matches years earlier over the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship so it made since to do this match here. Plus one of Bischoff plans was to use the high flying stars to draw people in and get them excited. Mongo shows he's idiot saying he hope LIger didn't' bring a ginzo knife. Liger hits a rolling kick right away and than moonsault but Pillman was a step to far back and Liger almost hits head first. Pillman hits a Flying Head Scissors. Pillman goes for a Hurricanrana but it looks awful I don't think Liger realized Pillman a was ready. Liger lock in the reverse surfboard Bichoff to his credit points out Liger does this all time and can do much more than fly. Pillman hits a flying splash to the outside. Liger hits a superplex but Pillman kicks at two. Liger went for a dive but Pillman caught him with a drop kick as he came down. Pillman hit a victory role. Good opening match but Pillman looked off. He was just coming off an injury at the time so I don't know he had all the rust knocked off. You want the best Liger vs Pillman match check out there earlier work. Heenan and Mongo were really annoying I think WCW hoping Mongo and Heenan would have that Gorilla and Bobby chemistry and would crack on each other but the jokes here sucked.
Sting cuts a promo on his match with Ric Flair for later it the night. It was just a shot and quick promo to tell fans we had a match later. We get a commercial for Mean Gene plug the WCW Hotline you know I should thank my mom she never let me call one of those. We get footage of earlier in the day with Hulk Hogan appearing at his Pasta-Mania restaurant. Hogan asks the fans who the greatest wrestler in the world and plugs his Hulkaroos. More about plugging the stand than the main event with Big Bubba.
WCW United States Championship Sting © vs Ric Flair- Of course Sting and Flair had a long standing rivalry. Mongo and Bischoff take a pot shot at Raw about how they don't' have matches like this. Of course before the match starts Lex Lugar walks down the aisle. Bischoff and Mongo act stunned and offended. In a nice touch both Sting and Flair stop and and stair selling the shocking debut. Now you have to understand this was before the internet when everyone moves were there anytime and back than the WWF didn't' have the 90 day clause so Lugar had been on WWF TV until the week before him jumping ship was a major shock. Bischoff demands to know what Lugar is doing there. Flair charges Sting who keeps avoiding him with a leap frogs and than a few press slams.Flair bails to the outside after Sting hits a drop kick. Bischoff says its chaos in the locker room with people wanting to know why Lugar was there. Heenan comments that Lugar has history with both Flair and Sting. Flair takes over with a dumb to the eyes and some chops. Sting starts no selling the shots and than presses Sting again. Flair hits a cross body that send both Sting and himself to the floor. Back from a break Flair is control. Flair climbs the ropes Sting gets up and tosses Flair off. Arn Anderson makes his way to the ring just as Sting missed the big splash. At this stage Anderson and Flair were not together and were set to met at Fall Braw but Heenan claims they have patched things up. Sting hits a supersplex and than sees Anderson this gives Flair a chance to clip the leg and lock in the figure four. Flair gets caught holding the ropes and is DQ'ed Anderson jumps in the ring and pulls Flair off. Flair and Anderson brawl briefly. Decent Sting and Flair match they hit many of the usual spots an I actually enjoyed the Anderson and Flair feud since it was different than together again Four Horsemen restart 89239 and 1/2.
Scott Norton makes his way out and gets in Bischoff's face. Mongo jumps up to defend Bichoff. Macho Man Randy Savage came out and pulled Norton away from Mongo and said if Norton wanted someone with a reputation he could try him. Bischoff told Norton if he climbed in the ring he would never work for WCW. Actually a decent segment I could see this working even today. Its a nice way to debut someone. Bischoff goes to video package on Sabu. Sabu was out of ECW at this stage after a falling out with Heyman but his WCW run wouldn't last long with him refusing to put guys over.
After the break Bischoff claimed they would get more info on Norton they really did a job of selling the Norton thing as tense moment. Bischoff introduces a video for "new" star Mr. Wallstreet. I find this finn since Michael Wallstreet was the former Mike Rountdo who had worked for WCW in the past and of course he had been on WWF TV for years as IRS. In a funny line Wallstreet claim the IRS will be watching him real close. Sadly the promo wasn't that good.
Hulk Hogan with Jimmy Hart vs Big Bubba Rogers- Of course Rogers was most known as Big Bossman in WWF. Hogan was the WCW world champion but I think this is a non title match. Bichoff mentions the history. I think a fire alarm went off at the start or something as a tone and some lights flashed. Bossman got a headlock early on. Bubba looks to slam Hogan head into the turn buckle but Hogan stops him and does it to Bubba. Hogan lands a series of boots that puts Bubba. down in a strange moment as Hogan was pounding on Buba, Randy Anderson pulled Hogan's hair to break it up. Normally rRandy was a good ref but that was strange. Bubba went after Jimmy Hart but that Gave Hogan control again. Hogan went for a lariat but Bubba got him with a side slam for two. Hogan started to Hulk up. Hogan got the win with what else big boot and leg drop. Ok match but you wold have liked Hogan to open the tank a little in a huge main event like this. Again I have no idea what was up with Anderson although I highly doubt he made the call for that spot.
Post match the Dungeon of Doom ran out to attack Hogan. Lugar ran out and helped Hogan out. Hogan and Lugar get in each other's face as Sting and Savage came out to try and calm things down. We got to break with Hogan and Lugar arguing. Mean Gene was in the ring when we got back. We could hear Sting saying "This is a friend of mine." Hogan demanded to know what Lugar was doing here. Lugar said he was here to take the WCW world title. Lugar said he was sick of playing with kids. Hogan put over what Lugar had done in the past but he wasn't taking the title. Hogan offered to put the belt on the line next week. Hogan and Lugar smoke on the deal before shoving each other. We close with Bischoff hyping the next Nitro and Mongo saying his dog couldn't' be a Dungeon of Doom fan.
This show was awesome! And it still is. Ok the matches at best were good but I mean they were TV matches not PPV matches. The stuff with Lugar and Norton was very solid story telling and the kind of stuff that wold hook people to watch the next week. Hell it was better than anything I see on Raw these days.
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